Seniors win the annual Spirit Week Dance Competition

Everyone from family members to alumni gathered at the DiBart Gym Tuesday night at 7:00 to witness a beloved East tradition take place: the annual Spirit Week Dance. For many, it marked the culmination of several weeks of choreographing and late nights. And although all the participants did a phenomenal job, the seniors were ultimately awarded first place, followed by the sophomores, the freshmen, and in last place, the juniors.

This year’s Spirit Week theme was TV show networks. The freshmen accordingly chose ESPN as their network. Sporting bright red shirts with their class year on the back and featuring songs such as “We Will Rock You,” “We are the Champions” and “Eye of the Tiger,” the freshmen managed to put together an overall entertaining performance. Their use of props, including bright pink pom-poms, racing flags and basketballs helped to add some pizzazz to the performance. Given that it was only their first year, the future certainly looks bright for the Class of 2021.

As for the sophomore class, they really did step it up this year. Coming from a tie for last place the previous year, the sophomores were able to craft more exciting and engaging choreography and ultimately take that 4th place title to 2nd place. They opened their performance with everyone seated on the ground, waving their arms like an airplane. Their choreography, in addition to songs such as “Empire State of Mind” and “California Girls” and “Waka Waka” really helped them to embody their theme of the Travel Channel. The sophomore class took the audience on an adventure across the globe, and ended with a remixed version of the song “Take Me Home,” and a brief thank you for flying with “Sophomore Airlines.” By having “flight attendants” throw shirts into the air, the sophomore class got the audience up on their feet and excited.

The junior class selected the Food Network as their theme for this year’s Spirit Week. To match their theme, they selected songs such as, “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Favorite Foods” and “The Ice Cream Freeze,” many of which are childhood favorites. With their hot dog, pizza and banana costumes, the juniors most definitely got the audience’s stomachs to grumble.

Following the juniors performance, there was much concern over whether the juniors were disqualified as a result of the boys taking off their shirts completely. To clarify, the Cherry Hill East Student Government posted on Twitter earlier today deeming any rumors that the juniors were disqualified to be untrue.

Overall, the juniors put on an enjoyable performance. It, unfortunately, just did not compare very well to that of the other grades. Perhaps their main weakness was the lack of participants and energy during the dance. For next year, the juniors should work on recruiting more participants as well as increasing student spirit during the dance.

The night finished off with the performance everyone had been waiting for: the senior class spirit week dance. From the very first song during which the seniors return from Disney, the energy was at an all time high. Keeping to their theme of the Discovery Channel, the seniors proceeded to venture into the jungle with songs like “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “Runaway.” Shortly after, the seniors plunged deep into the sea. A blue flag, resembling the ocean, flew across the gym, while Nemo and Dory from “The Finding Nemo” came out to play. As a remix of “Just Keep Swimming” blasted through the gym, breakdancing club president Sean Escareal took front and center to perform his very own solo. The seniors ended their amazing performance with the song, “How Far I’ll Go,” as a way to commemorate their last year at East. Just like how their dance left a trail of bright green glitter and powder on the gym floor, the seniors were able to leave a mark on East with their stellar performance.

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